Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Add to Roster, Offseason Program Schedule & Rowland's Rant on Rodgers

Episode Date: May 7, 2021

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You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, this Friday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by the Peacock and Williamson podcast. NFL analyst Brian Peacock and former NFL scout Matt Williamson host Locked On's Peacock and Williamson every Monday through Friday.

Brian and Matt give you a national perspective on all of the latest news around the NFL. Make sure that you check out the Peacock and Williamson podcast every weekday on whatever platform you do stream. But we are going to dive into a week-ending Locked on Titans episode today, and we have a lot to get to. First of all, the Tennessee Titans made a few more signings and added a few more names to the roster. We are going to talk about who they are, and of course, I'll give you a breakdown on these

players. And then from there, we got more updates on the offseason schedule, not for the NFL in general, but actual dates for what the Tennessee Titans will be doing as a team. So I'll break down that offseason schedule for you guys and what each step means. And then we will finish off this week of the Locked on Titans podcast with a little bit of a Rollins rant. There's a buzzy topic that's been floating around social media for the Tennessee Titans

and quite frankly, I'm going to weigh in once and for all on the topic. I also want to take this time to remind you guys I'm going to be putting out Monday through Friday daily Tennessee Titans content here on the Locked on Titans podcast no other Titans content creator can say that and next week will be a fantastic week we will have two in-depth player

profiles from the Titans draft class that include a Tic Tac Titans film breakdown I'll be putting up on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans and on Facebook at LockedOnTitansPod. So make sure that you check out those player profiles I'll be putting out and then the film breakdowns to go along with them on social media.

And later in the week, the NFL schedule will debut. So we will preview the schedule release and then after the schedule is released later in the week, we will break down all of the tasty matchups that we can look forward to for the 2021 Tennessee Titans season. So a lot going on in the next week of the Locked On Titans podcast, but all of that starts here today with a Friday edition going over two new signings, the Titans offseason schedule, and a Rollins rant to cap off the week. It's a Friday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! As I've mentioned all week since the completion of the draft, John Robinson, Titans general manager, has told us multiple times,

and it continues to ring true, the roster is not complete after the draft. Not only do I expect the Titans to add some contributing veterans throughout June, but I also expect them to continue to add training camp bodies. And when I say that, I just mean guys who are a long shot to make the roster, but the Titans do go all the way up to 80 to 90 guys, depending on what the NFL sets the limit at this year, as things are still sort of in flux compared to a normal year, but that will eventually be pared down to only 53 guys or 55 guys. Again, whatever the limit the NFL decides to set normal year, but that will eventually be pared down to only 53 guys or 55 guys. Again, whatever the limit the NFL decides to set this year.

But either way, you need a bunch of guys to come in and compete and fill out that 90-man group for training camp. So you get these guys in the building, you get them doing film work, things like that. You help get them acclimated and they help you run a successful training camp, whether they make the team or not. From those guys' perspective, this is one of the only chance they get. And any kind of work you can do in the NFL whatsoever to get your name out there, get people to know you, any of that helps.

It's much like any other job. Networking, getting your name out there, getting good relationships built in your business, all of that really matters. So that's a lot of what this is, especially with the two names that we are going to talk about today that the Tennessee Titans added on Thursday. The first name is a name that you guys may remember and for not necessarily a great reason,

but the Titans added defensive back Greg Maben. He spent two different stints in 2020 on the Titans practice squad. Two different stints in 2020 on the Titans practice squad. If you recall, the Tennessee Titans COVID outbreak, he was the first guy to test positive. So not blaming him for the outbreak or anything like that. That's completely unfair to do something like that. But Titans fans will probably recognize the name because of that. And there's really no way around it.

So Greg Maben has been added as for Greg Mabin out on the field a decent defensive back but he's been bouncing around different practice squads doesn't have high f uh high level athleticism anything like that he's had four starts for all of them coming with the Jacksonville Jaguars he's played in 34 games has 41 career tackles six six pass breakups. If he makes the Titans roster, we're looking at a guy who could potentially help on special teams. That is something that would be interesting to watch. He's had some special teams work earlier in his career a couple years ago. He played over 200 special team snaps, but any on-field activity he's gotten recently

has come on the defensive side of the ball, and with the Titans' depth at cornerback, that's a weird thing to say. I don't necessarily see Greg Mabin. If Greg Mabin couldn't make it on the Titans' roster last year with our cornerback situation, he sure is going to have a hard time this year, but the next signing that we have is Justin March Lillard, a linebacker, Next signing that we have is Justin March Lillard, a linebacker, five years in the league, 59 games of experience, has five starts, spent a lot of time playing for the Dallas Cowboys. He's got 45 tackles in his career, but different than Maben, who did play some special teams earlier in his career, but hasn't really played special teams the last two seasons. March Lillard has played a ton of special teams in his career, right underneath 700

snaps, 699. So 700, you know, splitting hairs there. Either way, about 700 career special team snaps for March Lillard. So obviously the Titans are looking for some more special teams competition there. Somebody who's going to challenge a guy like maybe Will Compton if he gets invited back. I know you guys love your boy, but March played 248 defensive snaps in his career, but zero of them came in 2020. So unlike Maven, he's a guy who has played some defensive snaps, played some special teams, but primarily been a special teamer here recently.

So both those guys have been added to the Titans roster. I see them both. Unlike Brian Hill, whose signing was officially announced on Thursday along with these moves, I see those two as camp bodies where I think a guy like Brian Hill, the running back we talked about yesterday, has a legitimate chance to make the roster. Now along with those three signings as veteran free agents, the Titans also waived a veteran free agent and it was Kareem Orr, the cornerback for the Titans. He spent a lot of time with the team. He played slot cornerback for them when he was out on the field. A lot of special teams activities. But here's the reality. The Titans like to turn over

the bottom of their roster and Kareem Orr has been with the Titans for long enough where the coaches know what they have in Kareem Orr and if they know what they have and they've squeezed all of the juice they think they can out of Kareem Orr well what they're going to do is they're going to move on and they're going to get another guy like a Greg Maben in here and see what they might be able to get out of him. Is there something more that we can develop there? So that's why they're constantly going to be turning over the back end of the roster, and I like that philosophy as well. But we are going to get into the next portion of our show where we discuss the Tennessee

Titans offseason schedule and what each step will look like. Before we do that, I do want to tell you guys about BetOnline.ag, the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Baseball and NHL are in full swing. NBA is about to go into the playoffs. There's a big boxing match this weekend, the Canelo-Saunders fight. You got Jake Paul and Mayweather coming up here soon. So there's all kinds of stuff to bet on,

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Text DRAFT, D-R-A-F-T, to 231-231. That's DRAFT to 231-231. Message and data rates may apply. We have talked a lot in recent weeks, including free agency and the draft, about roster building, about adding players, who the Titans are drafting, who they're signing. But it is time to talk about a little bit of actual football. We got the Titans offseason schedule on Thursday, what the actual dates will be and what is going to be taking place each step of the way. Now things are a little bit more interesting this year than they were last year.

Obviously last year we were in the heart of the pandemic and everything was done virtually that obviously had certain impacts on every team around the NFL and this year while there will be some virtual elements to the off season the procedures are really being handled like they were handled in the regular season last year so that teams can actually have in-person contact with players and have somewhat of a sense of normalcy. So that is an exciting thing as well. Especially with the young guys, the Titans need to get them going, get them in the film room, get them developing as soon as possible. And that brings us to the first event on the Titans off-season calendar post-draft.

And that is the Rookie Minicamp. post-draft, and that is the Rookie Minicamp. And the Tennessee Titans Rookie Minicamp will take place May the 14th through May the 16th. And the Rookie Minicamp will include any of the Tennessee Titans drafted rookies and then any of the undrafted free agents they have decided to sign and bring in. Most recently, they brought in Memphis' most productive quarterback of all time, Brady White. So that's an example of the type of guy who maybe didn't get drafted by the Titans, but will be invited to this rookie minicamp. Now, what will these players be doing at the rookie minicamp?

So you can't go full out with drills and pads and all of those sort of things. There's limitations in place. But the nuts and bolts of the situation is the players will be able to do film work, which is very important because the coaching staff will want to get them in the film room, show them plays defensively of what they'll be running to get them acclimated mentally to what the idea and philosophy of the defense is. Once they do film work or along with that film work, they're going to be doing walkthroughs on the field,

calling plays, learning the playbook, how you react to this situation, that situation, different adjustments that they'll make. And obviously they're not going to throw it all on them on day one, but the NFL moves fast. It's a big boy business. And how quickly you can retain information process that information and then do the correct thing out on the field I mean that's make or break

for a lot of these guys when you're in the NFL everyone is talented everyone is gifted everyone has incredible physical traits a lot of the time at least and what really separates guys who are all incredibly gifted like that is their mental ability to process learn the playbook all the things we're talking about so while they'll be doing film work to learn things they'll be doing walkthroughs to learn things they'll also be doing individual drills to work on their craft these guys have different areas of their game that they need to improve on so certain drills will definitely help out with those sort of things.

So getting the rookies in first, getting those young guys in first, getting them acclimated, getting them out on the field and starting that learning process of jumping from the college ranks into the NFL. So that's the first event. The next event will be organized team activities. And these are the voluntary organized team activities that we've been talking about recently so of course I touched on it earlier in the week but Denver Broncos right tackle Jawan James tore his Achilles while working out with his private trainer off the Broncos facility

and because of that he is going to lose roughly 2020 million, $10 million, just for this season's salary alone. And there have been some public wars going on because of that. Basically, the NFL Players Association earlier in the offseason told all of the veteran players, don't go into the facility for workouts. It's not safe for quote-unquote COVID reasons. But the reality is these NFL veterans would just rather work out at home. They don't want to go into the facility. They want to

work with their private trainer who they pay, who specializes on them and their needs rather than going into the team facility. Basically, I would compare the team facility to public school while you're getting a private tutor with your private workout trainer. So do you think you would get smarter from having one-on-one private tutor time or from being a one of 30 in a public school classroom? From my perspective and my experience, you're going to learn a lot more with the one-on-one private tutor. So it does make sense why NFL veterans would rather work out on their own, be away from the facility, and it's just better to be at home. A lot of these players don't live where they play. They live elsewhere. And they go to where they play and they have a place to stay there while they're in season and training. But a lot of these guys don't necessarily live in Nashville and in Tennessee. and in Tennessee. So of course they want to stay at home with their families and have their private tutor that's working on just them rather than going back to Nashville where they don't live

and only stay temporarily halfway half of the year and then go into public school where they're one of a bunch. Veterans don't want to do that and I get that but from a team perspective you want your employees in the building. You want to build team chemistry. You want to make sure that they're doing the workouts that you think they should be doing. They're coming in at the weight you think that they should be in. They're working on the things you think that they should work on. So the NFL as an organization, the owners, all that, they want these players in the facility. So when the NFL PA is telling them not to come in the facility for safety reasons, the NFL coaches are saying, don't do that.

And now Jawan James gets hurt, loses out on his money, and the NFL sent out a statement in the media basically telling NFL players, hey, that's going to be you if you don't come in the facility. The NFL PA is leading you astray. Of course, the NFL PA sends out their response statement telling players, no, you should skip these voluntary workouts at the facility and do the workouts on your own. Even though this was a bad incident, it's what's best.

What you feel and what you think is actually the right thing, I don't know. But all I can tell you is the Titans have organized team activities May 24th, 25th, 27th, June the 1st, June 3rd through the 4th, and then the 7th through the 10th. And there is a very good chance based on the joint statement the Titans roster released that most of the veterans will not be in attendance. The only ones I expect to be in attendance are guys who are still rehabbing from injury, had injuries at the end of the year. And then, of course, all of the young players, whether it be like a Christian Fulton, for

example. Christian Fulton cannot afford to not be at the Titans facility during these OTAs. He missed almost the entire season last year. Same with Darrington Evans. Any of the Titans rookies this year that they drafted, they cannot afford to work out off site. They need to be at these organized team activities, even if the top-notch veterans aren't necessarily there.

Then after that, we get to the mandatory portion of the offseason. We come June the 15th, which may seem like a while, but it's going to be here before we know it. June the 15th through June the 17th will be a mandatory team minicamp. So that's when you should expect to see all of the Tennessee Titans roster in Nashville working together on some football. So the next event after that will be training camp. We will talk about that a while from now, probably after these mini camps take place. But wanted to let you know what to expect coming up forward for the Tennessee Titans.

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The video content, everything that we have planned on YouTube and everything that's coming up, just really excited. And it wouldn't be possible without all of your guys' continued support. So I just want to thank everybody up front before we get into our last topic before the weekend, a little bit of a Roland's rant I have for you guys on a buzzy Titan social media topic. Do want to just take one last moment. Please follow, subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you do stream. Follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans, the Facebook page at LockedOnTitansPod.

Again, I appreciate all the support. If you guys are inclined to give me a review on Apple, I would appreciate that as well. But before we get into my Roland's rant, reminder, the Locked On Today podcast pairs perfectly with the Tennessee Titans podcast as well, hosted by Peter Bukowski. He's going to give you all of the biggest news in every single major sport in under 20 minutes every morning. It's like having the sports section read to you. So check out the Locked On Today podcast

wherever you get this podcast. But let's get into this Rollins rant. So prompted by an ESPN article from the great and talented Bill Barnwell. But I'm going to have to politely disagree. Basically, it was an article about Aaron Rodgers so it's no secret the biggest story in the NFL for the past week has been Aaron Rodgers his discontent with the Green Bay Packers him essentially wanting to be traded not wanting to play there anymore the reasons why all of that

blah blah blah blah blah the point, Bill Barnwell put together a package between the Titans and the Packers to get Aaron Rodgers to Nashville. And this is what Barnwell had. Ryan Tannehill, our first round picks in 2022 and 2023 for Aaron Rodgers and a 2023 fourth round pick. And I'm going to paraphrase. He's got three paragraphs here.

But essentially, his theory is the Packers get a guy who runs a similar offense, who's still a top veteran quarterback. Basically, Barnwell said this scenario gets the Packers the best possible veteran quarterback in return if they want to keep things going on the trajectory they have. Ryan Tannehill has been excellent the last few years. He's five years younger than Rodgers, so that would make some sense. On the flip side, he says that this just would get the Titans over the hump. Tannehill has not been spectacular in the Titans' two playoff losses.

He even says he wasn't dragging them down, but he wasn't able to lift them to the next level either. Rodgers does have that in him, so it would give the Titans that two- to three-year window to win with Rodgers and Henry. And I understand that, but to me, this is pie in the sky. This is nonsense. The Tennessee Titans aren't trading Ryan Tannehill for Aaron Rodgers, 38-years-old Aaron Rodgers,

who's been malcontent with the situation in Green Bay. Green Bay is one of the most well-run organizations in the league. They have the top pass-blocking left tackle in the NFL. They have maybe the best wide receiver in the NFL in Devontae Adams. They had the number one scoring offense in the NFL last year. They had a solid defense both of the last two seasons. I mean, he's got Aaron Jones in the backfield as well I just they got Jair Alexander at cornerback both the uh the Smith brothers on the outside

Zedarius being fantastic Kenny Clark in the middle I I just they have so much in Green Bay and he's not happy because they drafted Jordan Love I just just, I don't, man, it's a lot. It's a lot of baggage. And also, Aaron Rodgers ain't coming to the Titans. Aaron Rodgers doesn't want to live in Nashville. Aaron Rodgers wants to go out West. That's just my opinion of the matter, but I'm sticking to it. So everybody legitimately debating whether or not the Titans could get Aaron Rodgers,

it's just silliness. It's not going to happen. The Titans are with Ryan Tannehill. They believe in him. They believe in this group. And a wholesale change like that. I mean, I know that Aaron Rodgers is the better player. Let's not get too carried away here.

Aaron Rodgers is a far better player than Ryan Tannehill. It's a totally different level of talent. So I'm not saying that Ryan Tannehill is better or the Titans are better off with Ryan Tannehill. Aaron Rodgers would make the team better. But it's just an unrealistic scenario and what would it do to the locker room? You got guys building a bond. Ryan Tannehill has brought them on this run over the last two years and to just flip him out with a malcontent like Rodgers just doesn't seem like the type of move that the Titans would make. Although I could counter the Titans love shady football character guys.

So maybe Rodgers would be a perfect fit. But I say that tongue in cheek, of course. But either way, the point is I see this rumor. I never even tweeted about it. I don't want to give it a lot of life, but I wanted to at least on the podcast give you guys my thoughts. But that's going to do it for me today. Remember, as I said, next week we're going to have some draft player profiles, some film breakdowns,

and then the schedule does get released for the next NFL season later in the week. So I'll be covering all of that. Make sure you follow the show on whatever platform you do stream. Follow me on all of the sock meds I mentioned earlier. That's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this

was Locked on Titans. you